Some people in this forum may know that my father has recently passed away. All bills and financial matters were his responsibility. Thus far a couple of companies seem to think its funny to mess about with account holders who have suffered a loss. NTL were one of them, although i must say that a very helpful supervisor did help sort it out without much hassle. The same cannot be said about customer services.
Heres my story:
22nd Dec, we received a bill say that the amount due will be taken out of my fathers account via Direct Debit on or after the 9th Jan 2007.
On the 2nd of January, we informed NTL about the death of my father. They acknowledged the death and sent their condolences along with a change of account holder form on the 4th January. On the 2nd Jan, all my fathers accounts had been frozen by the banks, and my mother had to open a new account which was ready on the 3rd Jan. that same week at the same time i had sent the change of name form to NTL, I personally phoned them to set up a new DD (since my fathers account was frozen). I have not received any acknowledgment from NTL regarding any bills, or confirmation of DD until today. Todays letter was a final reminder (red letter) to pay outstanding amounts. The amount was £43. My brother setup a second DD with them without realising that i had set one up a month ago. We pay a fixed rate of £16.50 per month. I telephoned Customer Services to complain. here i met the biggest and most insensitive ass in existence. He kept interrupting me, and when asked to hold for a second while i searched for the last bill under my dads name, he kept trying to talk. He fed me a whole load of crap about what the bill contains, until he hit me with a breakdown. this was last months £16.50 bill, this months £16.50 bill and a £10 late payment charge. Forget that i setup DD about a month ago, it don't matter. the Late charge still stands. I asked him if it cost you that much to send (or in NTL's case, not to send) the letter. He don't want to know. Told him under contract law it is illegal to charge to make a profit, told me not to jump on "bank charge bandwagon". I then went on to explain the situation about my father, the fact that they don't send me bills just final reminders and then asked him if it is usual practice for NTL to profit from people who have just lost a loved one. Guess what...
he laughed
. That made me mad, raised my voice, told told to shut his trap (in not so many words
without swearing). I yelled at him asking if he thought my fathers death was a joke to him, He then asked me to lower my tempo and stop swearing. I asked him what 'swear' i said and reminded him that this may be recorded. he hung up.
I phoned back and was put through to a woman. At this point i didn't want to speak to to anybody but a supervisor. She asked for details and started to put me through...just to be cut off. Grrrr!
Third phone call made. Im not 100% sure, but it sounded like the same guy from the first call. asked to be put through to the supervisor he goes ok, let me get some details from you. gave him acc no, name etc but could not provide the password (my father was the only person who knew it). he told me that he cannot put me through to supervisor without PW. now it's strange because i have just been talking to a couple of people today without the password, have setup DD a month ago without password, have had my brother setup another DD without the password, going into detail discussions about this account without password and in fact the previous operator tried to put me through to the supervisor without password. He then asked what this matter was referring to (i suspect that he realized that it was because of him that i would like to speak to a supervisor). I told him that I couldn't tell him, only to again be told that he can't put me through with a reason.
I couldn't help it but i told him that it's probably to to with you.
He then put me through to a very nice man. He managed to help me figure out the password and agreed with the situation. He promptly refunded the late charge since it was out of my control, and payed the £33 remaining over the phone. I have also lodged an official complaint against the operator who thought that my situation was a 'joke' and am now awaiting for an outcome.
anyway, it was satisfying that i got the better of this t$%& operator and reclaimed my mothers £10. (its not much, but its satisfying nonetheless)
Victory on NTL 
